Artemis Fowl and the Race For the World
by Lilith Osborn
Summary: Being Editted. Artemis Fowl has a new reward in mind....the world, but not if Agent Mandi Huttle can help it.Can she stop him before the young genius bags his largest prize yet? Rated high to be sure. I do not own AF.
1. Choosing an Adversary

**Warning: This story (chapter 6 and on) is under major construction, enter at your own risk.**

**Artemis discovers the biggest kept secrets in the world and begins his quest for his greatest prize yet: The world. Unfortunately for him, he has invited along the toughest opponent he's had to face. Will she be successful in facing our child prodigy? How does she know Holly? Will they be able to stop Artemis, or be forced to live in a world ruled by him? **

**Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not own Artemis Fowl or any of the character from those books.**

* * *

Artemis sat on his bed, gathering his thoughts in meditation. He needed to think clearly for this to go well. He not only had a large task ahead but one of the best opponents he'd ever gone up against. This was a little matter, however, considering the reward.

Artemis stood up and stretched before leaving his room and going to his study. The projectors on the walls were off. He had no need for the news. He would be making news soon. He would be controlling the news. That is, unless he saw fit for his people to have freedom of speech. He figured it would be fine, no one would want to speak out against him when he had that much power.

He stopped and took a breath. _Slow down Artemis. Don't get ahead of yourself. That is when you start making mistakes, underestimating people._

Artemis turned to his computers where most of the information he had gathered was archived. He glanced at a few maps that he had memorized and some folklore pages stacked on his desk.

Artemis knew it would be a simple task to reach his goal, he was now a master at tracking and avoiding satellites which wasn't really needed, seeing as no one would be able to figure out what he was up too.

His plan was based on legends, really. He had been successful with The People and there was enough evidence to say that these legends were truth based also.

He brought up a picture of the most elusive person in the world, save perhaps, Artemis himself. That was one of the reasons he had chosen her. He had come across stories of a company no one knew anything about. Anyone who knew about it didn't know much. Artemis wasn't sure whether to believe this or not. There was no record of any members of this group as they were constantly moving, changing names and appearances. For a while he had written it off as unimportant and false.

Then, as he was researching, he came across an informant who didn't realize his information was of such value. When Artemis contacted him he immediately wrote him off as a conspiracy theorist in need of medication.

"I can't type her name," he said, "cuz she would find out."

"From typing her name?" Artemis replied skeptically.

"You never know with her man, she's like a genius or something."

"I bet she is." Artemis rolled his eyes.

Artemis was about to abandon the boy to his rambling when the young man said he had evidence of the girl. A picture.

"She is only a teenager." he pointed out as he looked at the picture of a girl with dark wavy hair. She probably hadn't known the picture was being taken. It looked like it had been enlarged and it suddenly cut off at her chin. Artemis examined her eyes; one blue and one brown.

"She isn't like other teenagers man. She is a secret agent."

"And why are you publishing this?"

"I dunno."

"Idiot." but Artemis was interested. Could this blabbering numbskull actually have evidence of this company and one of its employees? After further probing the boy he had still come up with little.

"She took this genius test, she got a really good score."

"You have no respect for detail." commented Artemis, frustrated.

"This other time, man. She hot wired this car."

"So she is a hoodlum, never mind then you have wasted my time"

"No way man, she hot wired this car so that it would drive off by itself. Some big dude was after her."

"Who was after her?" Artemis continued, growing tired of this conversation.

"Some servant dude."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, she told me his name."

"Quit drooling."

"I'm not man. I think the dude was called... what do you call those guy servants?...uh...butt...Butter-"

"Butler!"

"There you go!" Artemis quickly summoned Butler over the intercom that was wired throughout the house. The manservant was there as fast as he could, knowing by the tone of his charge's voice that something had happened.

"Yes Artemis?"

"Butler," he said, regaining his composure. "It seems you may know the girl we're looking for?" Artemis showed him the picture. Butler shook his head in disbelief.

"Well..."

"Well what? Why has this raving idiot brought up your name?"

Butler stood there for a moment "She was fourteen-year-old you say?"

Artemis, regaining his composure, sat patiently as Butler spoke.

" Last year I heard there was an undercover agent somewhere in the area. No one was sure what they were up to or who they were so I decided to check it out, just in case. " he paused and looked down at the overly mature boy sitting in the leather-covered chair.

"It wasn't just that though, it sounded like they were pretty dangerous.. A contact of mine was sure they were from this group I named 'Sombra' I had dealt with them before, their agents don't work exclusively for them. They're the best from all over the world. They are trained to get their green diamonds but don't get the tattoos so they can't be identified. They are masters in the art of disguise and can blend into any society at a moments notice. They are also trained in weapon use and technology. Sombra is rumored to have their own team of scientists that cook up all sorts of stuff for them. Whenever they're around things can get dangerous so I wanted to make sure they weren't on our trail."

"So I was digging around a bit and found who this agent was after but couldn't pinpoint the location of the agent. Logic said it couldn't be this girl I stumbled upon but having known you for so long, I kept an eye on her and the people around her. She looked like a normal teenager to me, but then again that was her job. I had almost dropped the investigation altogether." he stopped.

"And?" prompted Artemis

"One evening while watching the girl, she snuck off out of her house. I thought it was nothing but she tracked down her man and finished the job cleanly. When she was through she returned to her place of residence where she was met by a group of people. She discovered me before I could overhear any information and they scattered."

"When I knew I was revealed I decided to take an offensive maneuver and went after her. She entered a neighboring vehicle and began driving off. When I got there, however, I found the vehicle was propelling itself at approximately fifty kilometers and she was not in it.

"I lost track of her. Later I lost tabs on one of the criminals I had been watching for years. I suspect she was the one who led a team in to get him."

"And why is this?" Artemis asked.

"Well you can imagine my curiosity after losing her trail and the disappearance of a guy I saw fit to keep tabs on. So I did some research. Found a few people who were willing to tell stories for a pint of beer. I didn't find out anything about her but some stories like mine."

"What is her name?"

"As far as I can tell she is nameless."

"And what did you find out?" Artemis was getting impatient

Butler looked at Artemis "Nothing. I only have my assumptions."

"Which would be?" Artemis asked, interested and frustrated.

"She's one of their best, trained since she was a toddler both intellectually and physically."

"Clever I suppose." Artemis admitted

"Yes, they only take in the best."

Artemis turned back toward one of the computers.

"From what I could see she seems very well accomplished, her IQ would be second only to yours."

Artemis stopped short and turned back to face Butler. Butler was one who gave the facts as clean as he saw them. When he said something it was what he believed to be absolute truth.

"Nothing too impressive." Artemis said.

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Sombra means shadow in Spanish.

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	2. An Invitation Extended

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Fifteen-year-old Mandi made her way to the basement where several washing machines were going. She walked over to the water heater and touched her hand lightly to the warning label.

She pulled her hand back to reveal a pinpoint of blood forming. The rectangle sticker glowed green, growing brighter until the words were no longer visible. Then suddenly it returned to normal. Silently the water heater began to lower into the ground, revealing a dark hallway. She descended a few stairs until she came to another wall, this one with a plaque reading:

Linus M. Conner's Center for Orphans

It was eye level to her and she gazed at them a moment before the undetectable light had scanned her eyes. As she waited, she whispered a password to the walls to let her in, and they did. The wall began to move to make a doorway for her, leading into a room full of busy people.

When Mandi Huttle walked through the once solid wall, no one noticed her. No one ever noticed Mandi, just like no one had ever noticed that Linus M. Conner's had built a few extra rooms underneath his Orphanage.

A man in a long white coat bumped into Mandi Huttle. "Oops! Sorry!" apologized the twenty something man.

"It's ok Spencer." The man looked down at the girl, realization dawning on his face.

"Well, well, well, what are you doing coming out of there? Decided you would try to make your job feel a little more interesting by using that old passageway?"

She held up her wrist showing a simple faux gold watch. "Actually I couldn't get a hold of anyone down here, or anywhere for that matter."

"You weren't using it in any extremely populated places, were you?" he asked, folding his arm in mock scolding as if she needed to be reminded not to use it in public.

She ignored him and began to walk off.

He didn't see the seriousness of the matter."I'm sure it's just a glitch." He assured her.

She spun around abruptly. "_I_ made these watches. My stuff doesn't get_ glitches._" She said like a dirty word.

As Mandi continued on her way, she tried to ignore the frustration and anxiety building up inside of her.

Someone had done something to her watch. No one ever did things to her devices unless she wanted them to.

As she reached her destination, a small room equipped with a television and instruments to play various devices, a man with flyer goggles over his eyes joined her.

"Hello there." greeted the man.

"Hi." She said, examining him without moving her eyes.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" The goggles made his eyes look beady and his breathing patterns told her he was nervous.

"These watches..." she said slowly, choosing her words carefully.

The man gave her a puzzled expression. "Your watch is broken?" he took it from her hands and examined the face. It had stopped at exactly four twenty. "Maybe the batteries need changing." He suggested.

She didn't answer. Instead she caught hold of the man's wrist in a firm grip. She brought it to her face and moved back the sleeve, revealing a silver watch set with emeralds. It was dead, the hands pointing directly to the four and the twelve.

"What a coincidence." She looked back at the man with a chilling glare.

The man looked uncomfortable. "Maybe there was a-an electromagnetic pulse."

She raised an eyebrow. "That was powerful enough to affected both of our watches but not your pacemaker?"

He swallowed hard. "Then perhaps the computers you hooked them up too..."

"Oh I supposed that all twenty of them malfunctioned at exactly the same time causing a big enough wave disturbance to knock our watches out."

It was true that most of the watches were connected to one or more or the company's supercomputers placed around the world but what this man didn't know was that hers was on a closed circuit and would not have been effected even if such an unlikely event had taken place.

In order for something of that scale to happen there would have to be a team of hackers working on each computer after completing the daunting task of locating the machines. They are some of the most secure databases in the world, which made them an ideal choice for her when she needed a reliable machine to keep all of the watches updated. The watches were extremely dependent on the function of those computers so theoretically if all of them were to simultaneously shut down it could shock the watches into failing. That or there was a mistake in the watches.

Mandi did _not_ make mistakes.

"What do you know?" she asked the frightened man. She hadn't let go of his arm yet.

The man frowned "I didn't think this was possible, not after all of the security you put up."

"But..." she prompted, ignoring his compliment.

She released him and he closed and locked the door. He slipped a disc into a DVD player and watched as a picture of a boy her age came onto the screen.

"Artemis Fowl." She thought to herself. Her mind raced before he spoke to his record and capabilities.

"Hello Miss Huttle."

She was a bit surprised but listened intently.

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	3. Let the Games Begin

**Please review you guys I could really use some constructive criticism...or criticism **

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl but I do own this story

* * *

Three weeks later Artemis stood five miles from his destination drinking his finest water available in a bottle.

At this same time Mandi and George stood the same distance to the north of their destination drinking some of the cheapest stuff that could be found.

"This water tastes like plastic." Said Artemis.

"This water tastes like plastic!" moaned George.

"I told you to buy some of the other water. You might have liked it better." prompted Mandi.

"Why aren't _you_ drinking it then?"

"Because I choose to save some money, I don't know."

"SAVE...MONEY? Are you kidding?"

Mandi sighed, rolled her eyes and looked back to the map that was on the table.

"Go ahead and buy different water then." She said, uninterested.

He looked at the bottle in his hand. Mandi was touchy when it came to money.

They were looking at a map of Sundance, Wyoming and surrounding areas. The hill they were looking for wasn't marked on the map, but they knew where it was.

There were land mines hidden in the ground of Wyoming which became more numerous the closer you got to their destination, "Mole Hill." The land mines weren't much of a threat. They weren't even activated. They were to try to keep Fowl away enough for him to be apprehended. Mandi doubted it would be that easy.

As far as she could tell, Artemis was still being pompous and hadn't tried to conceal his position since it had been so easy to find him. Mandi had a feeling that either Artemis had lost his mind, or he had something up his sleeve. The later was probably true.

Mandi had done a lot of tiring research the past three weeks but had come away with only cryptic riddles and bedtime stories.

* * *

Five miles south of Mole Hill.

Artemis didn't much care what the name of the site was called, he hadn't troubled himself on a name but instead looked at what was needed to get to and leave with this device.

When the hill appeared on the horizon Artemis brought out a small device that he placed over his eyes. They looked like sunglasses because that is what they doubled as. Artemis could now see several devices that had been placed under the earth and seemed to be more close together as they neared the hill. Artemis did not bother stopping. He could see easily that these were there for scare and had not been activated.

As the bump on the horizon grew to a hill, Artemis busied himself with his laptop. He could not see anything below the surface of the hill which led him to believe that something in it did not want to be found. As men started to dig on his orders a dot on the horizon caught Artemis's attention.

Picking up a pair of binoculars Artemis could distinguish a group of men walking toward them. Artemis went to his laptop and brought up a program he had designed himself.

"You forgot something, Miss Huttle." He said as he clicked an icon on the screen.

* * *

Meanwhile

There was an explosion at the rear of the team that shook the ground and surrounded the back half of the group in a whirl or dust.

"We are under fire!" Someone called. "Hold your positions!" Why did people insist on her talking like that?

She had to hold in a low growl. "Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid." she said to herself. OF COURSE Fowl could activate her mines, she could do it, she had designed many programs the same purpose, how had she overlooked that?

Another mine went of about thirty feet to the right, causing more dust to swirl around in the air, making it harder to see.

Mandi hadn't liked this idea in the first place. She was supposed to be in charge but someone at the company found out and started giving orders. Did they really think that they could just walk up next to Fowl? See if she ever took any of their orders for the Fowl case again.

"Fall back!" she yelled, but people were already panicking. Why did they have her talk like that?

"Mandi!" George called from horseback. "We have to get to that mountain."

"I know, I know!" they didn't need all of this extra baggage.

"George! Tell everyone to back up about forty feet and you follow me!" George turned around and went to tell the men what to do as Mandi searched the horizon with her binoculars. There were men working on the hill and a tent was being put up, one looked like it was the mess hall and the other a luxury tent complete with shaded porch area and air conditioning.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered. A few minutes later she was joined by George who, she could tell, was ready for action.

"Follow me." She said, though it was unneeded. If she had decided to go get a drink of water he would have followed, expecting some brilliant piece of information.

They set their horses on a gallop when George realized and slowed to a trot."The dust will give us away too soon!"

"Maybe we should take one horse, we can't help the dust but that would reduce it." George nodded and they moved their horses closer so that Mandi could switch saddles.

They began to ride as fast as they could, trying not to overheating the horse.

"What exactly are we going to do?" asked George over his shoulder.

"Mr. Fowl has a laptop that set off those mines. How much do you want to bet that by getting that we can slow him down?"

"Uh...huh...and you think he isn't going have his paws on it 24/7?"

They rode on in silence for a while as the hill and men became bigger and closer.

* * *

At Mole Hill

Artemis was satisfied with two mines being set off. The dot on the horizon had stayed the same size for quite sometime. After a quarter hour had passed he checked again and saw nothing had changed, it seemed that the dust was settling and-

Dust didn't take that long to settle. Artemis grabbed his binoculars and swung around to find two figures galloping toward him on horseback. Artemis smiled as he leaned over to his laptop and activated a few more mines.

* * *

Meanwhile on horseback

A ground shaking boom that kicked up dust told Mandi and George that they had been found. The horse reared, nearly throwing Mandi off. George led the horse around the dust cloud and continued to gallop still in the direction of the camp. Another mine went off behind them and then one to their right that sent the horse and riders flying.

All three landed hard on the ground, the horse jumped up and galloped off.

Mandi sat up first and noticed the horse was gone. George sat up as Mandi was dusting herself off.

"If Mr. Fowl notices the horse has no riders then he may send men to find us. If we get lucky and he doesn't notice that we are not on the horse, then we may have a chance to get the laptop still."

"Uhuh." Said George, still dazed. Mandi walked over to him and checked that he didn't have a concussion.

"I think your ok, just shaken up."

"Uhuh." seemed to be all he could get out. Mandi brought out some water and towel from her backpack and, moistening the towel, put it on George's forehead.

"We can stay here for a little bit, hold this here." George obediently put his hand on the towel to keep it in place.

* * *

2 a.m.

Artemis had been satisfied when he saw the horse ride off, thinking its riders were with it he had not sent out anyone. When the horse's dot met the other dot on the horizon, they soon left the area, leaving Artemis to his work for now.

Artemis had just finished putting a security system on the mines so that no one else could use his idea against him and try to interrupt his sleep. Butler was to sleep in the room next to him in the luxury tent, complete with comfortable cots and fresh fruit for their enjoyment. Artemis fell asleep and was comfortably dreaming when the flap on his tent was pushed back and the figure of a teenage girl came noiselessly in and paused.

Artemis's laptop was closed and sitting on a table near the owner's bed, unprotected but by the sleeper's ability to hear. As Mandi walked over to the laptop Artemis rolled over in his sleep, causing the girl to pause again for fear of waking him. Mandi reached for the laptop and was surprised when Artemis's hand slammed onto it first, almost knocking into hers.

"Who's there?" Artemis said in a sleepy confused voice. Mandi could tell he was sleep talking. She assessed the possible ploys that could be used. All she had to do was keep him quiet so that Butler didn't come rushing in.

Mandi sat down gently on Artemis's bed. "It's me Arty, Mommy."

"Mother?" was Artemis's innocent reply.

"Please call me Mommy dear, even Mom would be nice. I came in to check on you. I didn't mean to wake you." She reached out her hand toward him and paused, she didn't want to touch him and wake him but she thought it would be more convincing. She placed her hand in his hair and gently brought it down the side of his face, trying to make it seem motherly. He seemed to calm down and brought his hand away from the laptop, falling to sleep again.

"Goodnight Arty." She whispered, glancing at the tent flap, expecting to see Butler's shadow.

"Goodnight Mother." He whispered back.

Mandi sat there for a moment before taking her hand away and getting up. She could make out the shadow of the sleeping Butler through the tent door, so she decided she was safe. She gently picked up the laptop and began to leave silently, praying that Artemis didn't wake up again.

Ok thanks for reading this so far but I would like to ask for some reviews. Do you like the story so far? Does it make sense? Well please review, it sure helps my writing speed up.


	4. Step one: Completed

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The next morning when Artemis found his laptop missing he was more impressed then disappointed."She is very intelligent, she will be able to break my passwords. We'll just have to leave before then." 

He was talking with Butler as they watched the digging proceed. Artemis hoped that it wouldn't take much longer, he was not only anxious but he was now becoming bored. Not to mention his skin was tanning, which made him look more normal and less intimidating.

"They look like they're getting somewhere. " Butler offered.

Artemis was brought back to the present when a man came running up, bowed, and announced.

"We think we have found something, Sir."

"Thank you Wass, you may go now." and the man departed.

Butler made his way toward the hill where some sort of commotion was taking place. His faux glasses had a camera that sent live feed to Artemis who sat in his luxury tent sipping water.

As Butler neared the hole, excitement coursed through Artemis, making him want to smile and jump around. To the men his face was still in a scowl, he had to keep face for these men, show them who was in charge.

Butler looked into the hole about thirty feet down, and saw a silver something glinting under a thin layer of dirt on it.

"Get a ladder." Artemis said to no one in particular. As if they could hear him, two men lowered one in and held it as Butler began his descent into the cool, moist earth.

When he reached the bottom he could tell he was not standing on ground, but something metal. He bent down and brushed away dust to reveal an inscription in Gnommish.

"Important, handle with caution." Artemis translated for him.

"Artemis." Butler called for his attention and pointed to an indent in the device. Artemis looked it over.

"A handle." he said, indicating Butler to open it. When the door popped open Artemis half expected there to be smoke or fog coming from the room inside. To many movies, he told himself.

The room inside was big enough to sit in, with purple walls and lit by a purple light, it was interesting and boring at the same time. There was a stand in the middle of this room that held a gold cube.

Butler picked up the cube and found it heavy, "Maybe ten pounds." he informed his charge.

Butler climbed out of the room and up the ladder without saying much. As he approached Artemis, the boy felt his fingers itching to hold the strange object. Butler gave the orders to pack up and even as they announced themselves ready to go, Artemis still sat examining the cube. This was his first token of victory. He smiled, the color was so fitting. He thought of his family's motto

He didn't care about the missing laptop, he could get the information again, it wasn't like that was the only place he had stored it, but most importantly, he was one step closer to victory.

Artemis knew that Mandi had stolen a laptop full of information she already had and nearly did one of those evil cackles that so often came to him in moments of triumph. He only wished he could see the girl's reaction when she found out.

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	5. Prisoner of War

**Warning: This is a long chapter, lol.**

**I do not own Artemis Fowl but I do own this story.**

* * *

**One week later**

Artemis was tired.

Mandi was tired.

They had both spent a week getting people transported across an ocean and into Egypt. Mandi had done all of this to find that she had to send half of them back when they suddenly came down with all sorts of illnesses.

Artemis was tired of waiting and almost went ahead without some of his men. he only stopped when he would remember that he may need them to dig again. He knew the men just _loved_ that. It gave a whole new meaning to the People's "Mud men." At the thought of the People Artemis checked his new laptop to see if what he had made for Foaly was still working.

He smiled at the thought of the centaur being fooled. Foaly was such an idiot sometimes. He had attached a device to piggyback Foaly's piggyback that was attached to a television satellite. It made sure that the People remained unaware of his activities until he had the things necessary to make this matter a little one.

He had also arranged to have a device set up to make phone calls from his house to various innocent locations in his voice. This would give the illusion that he was present when he was really thousands of miles away.

He stood looking out at sand. "Wonderful." he thought. " More dirt. "

His men seemed to be thinking the same thing as they trudged through it, half way through the fourth day of their five day journey.

Mandi was tailing Fowl every step of the way, though he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he just didn't care. This frustrated her to no end. Because they did not know what Fowl was after or where he was going, they could only follow him and wait for an opportunity to head him off.

She settled into her sleeping bag, thinking about the last week.

"Stupid Fowl." she muttered as she thought of the laptop with information she already had.

When she woke up the next morning George was decided to be enough assistance and the two of them set out. They saw Fowl and a group of men climb down into a hole near the base of the pyramid. He must have had his men dig all night! What a slave driver.

* * *

Artemis, Butler, and ten men climbed down into the mine shaft that looked so horribly dug that it could collapse any second. Artemis looked at it for a moment and then began to walk down the lane before anyone could complain or state that they wanted to go back to the surface. 

The men stood back for a moment and watched as the bodyguard, and then the boy suddenly disappeared in the middle of the tunnel. They followed slowly and soon were on the other side of the image of a holographic projector. The men looked back in confusion at the opening to the mine and then to where they were headed. It was a well built mine, so well built it could have been a hallway in someone's house.

Artemis hadn't anticipated that piece of fairy technology but by the look of it guessed it was a bit primitive.

They continued to walk at a leisurely pace. Artemis realized how out of shape he was as he raced down a suddenly steep hill, panting with sweat drops on his forehead as these men around him could have run _up_ the hill and had less of a reaction than himself. He made a mental note that when he returned to his house he would get into better shape, which he figured would be easy with puberty and testosterone there to aid him.

* * *

**Meanwhile**

Mandi and George climbed into the cavern and jogged under cover of an unexpected wall.

Mandi looked it over.

"Looks like Fowl left a holographic projector." She studied the picture. "Impressive." she looked down the lane that they were standing in. It was about ten feet wide and ten feet high and stretched out for an unknown distance.

"You up for a jog?" she asked George.

"I'll race you."

* * *

That night Artemis let the men he had brought sleep and Butler kept watch for half the night before waking one of them up. 

Artemis woke earlier than the rest of them and roughly woke them up with an annoying beeping he had programmed into his watch just for this reason.

They continued the walk faster than their dazed and sleepy minds preferred. Artemis felt an excitement filling him as the air got cooler. They were roughly fifty feet underground when he stopped everyone in front of two separate tunnels.

Artemis stood for a moment, examining the arches of the tunnels, the descent. He then sniffed the air before instructing Butler to kick the wall in between them in various places. When Butler kicked the wall in the last place a noise of cracking rock rang through their ears as a crack crawled from the floor to the ceiling. The crack grew bigger and bigger until Butler could fit into it and he led the way into the hallway that was revealed.

The men walked into the hall made of sandstone. There were torches hung on the walls and several people picked one up to light the way. These proved not to be needed since as they began to walk, torches lit themselves along the wall for about a fourth of a mile until the hall connected with a large room right out of an Indiana Jones movie.

The men looked around in awe at the enormous room with hieroglyphics engraved on every inch of wall, pillar and arch. Ladders and large scaffolding were placed all along the walls as if the engravers had disappeared in the middle of this grand project. This gave the place an eerie aura, putting the men on edge and Butler on his toes. The room was made out of the same stone as the pyramid they were under and the torchlight made everything glow yellow. There were stairs along the wall of the opposite side of the room and on a platform at the top of these stairs sat a swirling portal of light. The men drooled as they watched the portal changing colors reminding them of a black hole.

Artemis smiled when it changed to a gold color and stayed that way. Artemis walked around the room trying to figure out how to use this portal. There was writing around the portal on the wall in the same language as he had read in the Book not to long ago and so he was able to search for instructions rather quickly.

Just as he found them a commotion was raised among his men. There was one too many of them. Butler quickly apprehended the imposter.

"Where is she?" Artemis demanded of George Newman, Mandi's right hand man.

"I don't understand!" he yelled as his arm was yanked nearly out of its socket.

"Where is your leader!"

"I _am_ the leader!" he insisted.

"Watch the entrance," Artemis ordered, sending men scrambling for the door as Butler tied up George.

Artemis went back to reading the instructions written on the archway. He soon found just what he was looking for written around the arch of the portal:

Requests are accepted for treasures untold

From unknown centuries or time grown old

We'll show you whatever you are so inspired

Or give you the thing which your heart has desired

But brave adventurer you must beware,

To not allow yourself be caught unaware.

Artemis straightened up and faced the portal, trying to remain calm and focus on what it was he sought. Every eye in the room was on him. Unfortunately for him, Mandi Huttle was also in the room and as the light began to engulf him she swung down from a scaffolding and grabbed onto him.

* * *

Butler had spotted Mandi an instant too late, breaking into a run and shouting to Artemis as a warning. But Mandi got to him first and he was thrown backwards by some invisible force that the suddenly swelling light emitted. 

He was now squinting into a bright light into which Artemis and Mandi had both disappeared. She had been hiding in the shadows in the scaffolding and he hadn't seen her until it was too late. He knew he had failed in protecting Artemis and that he was now alone in the company of a very dangerous individual. But there was nothing he could do.

After a moment the light dimmed back to the way it was before but the two teenagers were not in front of the portal. George felt panicked before realizing that Mandi and Artemis were standing at the bottom of the stairs, unharmed, both looking confusedly around. Mandi looked over at Artemis as though to say something when suddenly the ground shook violently, throwing them both to the ground.

* * *

As the walls shook Mandi was almost sure that she heard a baby's cry but knew that couldn't be possible. Artemis thought the same thing but Butler came and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and ran towards the door. Artemis and his men stopped when they realized the door they had entered from was no longer there. Artemis ran his hand along the solid wall as torches on the wall began to fall to the ground with large chunks of stone. 

Meanwhile, Mandi saw that the mysterious portal had lost its light and was now a doorway and their only way out. Everyone ran towards it in a panic, stumbling and falling all the way. Whenever one of them made it past the archway two doors would close behind them and then reopen almost immediately, empty, like some stone creature devouring its tiny prey.

Once again the doors opened to an empty room that some of Artemis's men began to fill. Artemis had made it through first, leaving all of his man and his opponents in the room that was quickly being dismantled. Dust and gravel fell from the walls and ceiling as Mandi made her way to the door.

Suddenly she realized that the baby's crying noise was getting louder, even though the roar around her was deafening. Mandi looked around, trying to figure out what was making the noise when she saw, laying on the ground next to a fallen pillar, was a screaming baby in a pale yellow blanket.

Mandi stopped running and looked toward the door that was closing much more slowly then normal. Something was wrong with it, it was stalling and it may not open again. Something about that baby was important, she could feel it. What would it be? Her or the baby?

Mandi ran for the child, hoping that the pillar wouldn't roll. Everything was going in slow motion. A loud crack over head told her that a piece of ceiling was headed towards the hollering bundle. It was thirty feet from it, twenty, fifteen, ten.

Mandi made a dive for the baby, wrapping the tips of her fingertips around it's edges and using her momentum, continued into a roll with the baby close to her. She leaned over the baby to protect it as the rock landed.

She broke into a run for the door. She came to the wall and to her horror found it closed. She kicked the wall to no avail but to injured her toes. The baby cried again as she tried to keep it balanced, ignoring her protesting toes.

She pulled out a pocket knife from her boot and flipped out a large blade. The door was too thick to pry open but maybe she could unjam it. She ran the blade through the edges to the door easily until it caught on something. She jimmied the obstruction until a small rock fell to her feet. A small boulder bounced in her direction but she jumped into the room and away from harm.

The room was made of wood with silver engravings in the walls. The doors closed behind her silently, cutting off all noise. She checked the baby over, puzzling over where it could have come from. Catching her off guard with a sudden jerk the room began to move upward towards the surface. This threw Mandi to her knees and jostled the sniffling baby into a fit of screams.

It was amazing. This was an _elevator._ It suddenly changed direction and she was thrown forward, landing on her elbows to avoid landing on the baby. The elevator was going so fast she had to use all of her strength not to crush the baby beneath her. She pushed herself up just enough to roll over onto her back and then sit, supporting her back against the wall. She sat for a moment rocking the child that couldn't have been more than a couple months old.

Just when she began to calculate where the elevator would spit her out at, the doors flew open to a room larger than a football field. She stood and walked into the florescent lit room, letting the door close behind her.

George informed her from across the room, his tone solemn. "Fowl says he has a bomb, Mandi."

Mandi's eyes snapped across the room where George was being held firmly by the shoulders in Butler's crushing grip. Next to them stood Fowl with a smug look on his face.

"That isn't true." Mandi informed. "You have no idea where we are, you could never have planted a bomb, Fowl."

"The missile isn't coming _here_." he informed her coldly. "It's going to your place of residence."

"You're bluffing." she accused. He couldn't know where she lived.

"I believe that Mr. Linus M. Conners would say differently." he smirked.

"I can't give Fowl a kid!" she thought. She was sure he wouldn't do anything to it, but she couldn't trust him with a child, especially not _this_ child. It could be what was standing between him and whatever he was after. At the same time she thought of the bomb heading toward the orphanage.

"Have you launched it yet?" she asked.

"No, give me the child and the missile can stay unactivated."

Mandi looked toward Fowl who had his hand on his watch. "I'm guessing I can't get a hold of anyone up there to warn them." she said.

"No. Something seems to be inhibiting all of you means of communication." informed her, sarcasm coating his every word.

"What a coincidence." she mumbled.

Her mind was racing. She looked at George and how small he seemed next to Butler. She thought about the orphanage and all of the children there.

"I have one of your men and a missile, give me the baby and you both may leave with your lives.

I can't give him this baby.

She took a step forward and Artemis's men raised their weapons.

"Put them away." Fowl ordered.

Mandi met Butler in the middle of the large room with George in tow. There was a moment where they exchanged glares and everyone was silent.

"Let him go, I'm coming with you."

"No!" George exclaimed.

"That was not part of the deal." Butler growled.

The baby sniffled in it's blankets.

"It is alright Butler." Artemis called. Why not? She was walking right into his hand, how could he pass such an opportunity up?

* * *

Within a few hours Mandi found herself in Artemis's private jet. She was strapped in with no chains or ropes. Somehow she had imagined being defeated to be different. She sat staring at the baby with Artemis glancing over at her every once in a while. 

Sometimes he would look at the baby when Mandi caught him looking at her and sometimes he would look away. He was memorizing her features and acknowledging how different she looked than in the picture he had seen. She had brown hair that went past her shoulders and was a bit wavy. Her green eyes were rather attractive he thought, then immediately wanted to kick himself for it.

_Useless hormones,_ he thought. He tried to do other things but for some reason he found his eyes wandering back to her.

Artemis stood up, Mandi looked up to see what he was doing and he looked into her troubled eyes for a moment, assuring himself that it was an act.

"Miss Huttle, we are now on our way to Fowl Manor. As you are well aware I am preparing to depart soon. You will be accompanying me and will be charged with care of the child. Juliet will get you your meals and anything else you may need, so feel free to ask."

What is this, a hotel or something? It sounds like he is making it awfully comfortable for me.

"What's the catch?" she said, skeptical.

"No catch." he assured. He moved to sit facing away from her to try to stop himself from looking at her. She looked at the back of his head for a while before the baby in her lap began to cry. She bounced it up and down and patted its back, and checked its diaper but it cried louder.

"What is wrong with it?" Artemis said, trying to remain in composure while speaking above its screams

"I think its hungry!" she yelled back.

Artemis got on his cell phone for a while before snapping it shut and informing her Juliet would have formula when they arrived.

Artemis sat down in a chair and began massaging his temples, and wishing he had ear plugs. This was going to be a long plane ride.

* * *

**Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	6. The Bottom of the Earth

**I do not own Artemis Fowl.**

If anyone had walked by at that moment they would have seen a caravan of tourists, one seemingly pregnant, making their way towards an unknown destination. That was very unlikely however because not many people visited this part of the Antarctic. The tourists were actually a small group of Artemis Fowl's hired help. The pregnant woman was actually Mandi Huttle, and she was not pregnant merely carrying a child under her many layers of clothing to keep it warm.

"You're such an idiot Fowl! Who brings such a young child to the South Pole!"

Artemis ignored the insults stared forward. He knew that there a checkpoint somewhere in the distance and he was determined to get there before sundown.

He had equipped his men with the finest technology to keep themselves warm during this trek but they had somehow managed to get frostbite on a few toes and fingertips. They would have to end their journey at the checkpoint and be carted off to a hospital for amputation.

No one talked much, partly from being to cold and partly from exhaustion. They were all looking forward to a break from the constant chill. About an hour later a dot appeared on the horizon. As they got closer they saw it was in the shape of a building and began to move more quickly across the barren landscape. When the group reached the small village of supply shacks they all became much more lively very quickly. Mandi pealed off her outer jackets and got a bottle of formula for a fussy baby. Butler had taken the drivers seat and Artemis was in the middle drinking tea.

"Would you care for some tea Miss Huttle?" he inquired of the girl. She looked up from the feeding baby and raised an eyebrow.

"That's okay..."

"And you Butler?"

"Oh for goodness sakes Fowl, give it up." Mandi said, temper flaring.

"Excuse me?"

"Quit with the condescending rich kid act, it's annoying."

"Miss Huttle, as a member of the wealthier part of society you must know that with this wealth comes certain class that others may, well, _lack_ to put it kindly."

"Shut your trap would you!" she yelled, fed up with it. "Just because you're rich doesn't mean you're _better_ than anyone."

Artemis was now interested "What do you mean?"

Mandi rolled her eyes, suppressing a scream. He was doing this on purpose, he _had_ to be doing this on purpose.

"Perhaps you are right Miss Huttle. Perhaps I have been wrong in my thinking, crumpet?" he asked, offering her a plate of food. Without a word she turned towards the window.

* * *

They sat in silence for a long time, nothing audible above the howling wind outside. The baby had finally gone to sleep after being burped several times. As Mandi stared at the small creature in her arms she let her mind do something it rarely ever did. Wander.

Why does it feel like I know this kid? Since the first time she heard it's cry she knew it was her's to protect. And since the first time she held it she knew there was something more to it besides having a mysterious origin.

Kind of like me. She admitted. _A wanderer no one ever knows. Don't worry, I won't let that happen to you..._

She admitted. 

"Diana." she said aloud, without think. Artemis, who had been deep in thought, looked over at the interruption.

"What was that Miss Huttle?"

"The baby's name...it's Diana." she repeated, curious as to how she knew that herself.

"Excuse me? Have you finally decided to name it?" Artemis asked, a bit perturbed by the insignificance of this conversation compared to what had been on his mind previously.

Mandi shot him a glare. "No, that's her name. I'm not sure how I know it exactly but...ever since I found her that name has been drifting in and out of my thoughts every time I go to see her. I thought of naming her and Diana kept coming into my mind like...like I had no right to give her any other name. Do you know why she is named Diana?" Mandi inquired of Artemis, wanting to see if he had figured it out like she had.

"No." he stated, bored with the subject.

"Here." Mandi said, shifting the baby so she could place it in his protestingarms.

He didn't like how this had turned."No, I don't think so Miss-" Before he could say anything else the baby was laying gently in his arms.

He had to admit he hadn't held the baby as of yet, only tried to find it's origin. Now as he held it he felt some sort of strange connection forming, coursing from little Diana into him and he knew.

"She's a twin." he said, amazed. Mandi smiled and nodded.

"I'd think you'd like the name Artemis."

Artemis smiled. He didn't smirk, didn't grimace, but gazed at the sleeping child in his arms and smiled. "Yes, I do."

"The question now is," Mandi said, puzzled again. "where is the one that makes the pair?"

Diana is the Roman name of the Greek goddess Artemis

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please tell me how I'm doing and if you have any requests for where this plot goes!


	7. Enter Holly Short

**And now for all of you who have been waiting for the appearance of the people, here they are!**

Holly Short was crouching in an abandoned building covered in ice, cursing the boy genius for leading her there.

"Out of all of the places in the world he could have vacationed to it had to be here!" She thought over and over again. She stuck her hands into her armpits and walked over to a wall lined with iced shut trunks and began kicking at one of them. When most of the ice had broken off she kicked the lid up. Empty. She moved to the next one. Empty. The next. Bingo.

The elf reached inside and brought out a small cube glowing with warm light.

"Thank Frond." she breathed, allowing her fingers to defrost.

Now that she was a bit warmer she looked around the dark room at it's barren floors and ice encrusted walls. This had been one of the most popular places to come when it was first built. That was until the People realized why it was so uninhabited with mudmen.

The People hated the cold. A couple thousand years of living near the Earth's core had made them soft and unable to bear cold very well. Holly was one of the worst.

The auburn haired sprite thought about sitting down but decided she might get frozen to the floor boards. Instead she stuffed the glow cube down her jacket, wanting to keep it close to her, and went down the rickety stairs to the ground floor.

She grabbed the door knob and took a deep breath, bracing herself.

"Darvit Fowl!" she muttered, swinging open the door to reveal swirling snow and gusty winds.

The small creature trudged out through the snow and into the race for the world.


	8. Now you see her, now you don't

Mandi knew someone was following them. She wasn't sure who, but she knew her hunches were usually right. Apparently Antarctic was once inhabited by _something_ because a large dome could be seen on day 5 and they had reached it by day 6.

Artemis still wasn't telling her anything. For all she knew he was having her escorted here to be sacrificed to some god he now believed in.

See, from what Mandi had seen of the youngest Fowl, he was completely off his rocker. She knew he was convinced that whatever he was after would work, but she wasn't. She would just have to get whatever it was faster. Just in case.

She was now being taken into the dome along with the baby and a group of Artemis's number one team. This room was roughly three football fields and was empty. There was a door on the other end that she was sent into first. Thanks a lot guys. The one time they act chivalrous is to check for traps. There goes my faith in the human race.

The next person to come in was Fowl. As soon as he was completely inside the door behind him slammed and sealed.

"What's going on Fowl!" Mandi yelled, wondering if it was a trick.

"I assure you I had nothing to do with this." he replied.

Though there were no visible light fixtures, the room became a blinding bright. Mandi's eyes fought to be shut but she fought back. Just when they were sure their eyes would melt from their sockets, it stopped. They opened their eyes and found that they were looking at a man. He was young, maybe in his mid twenties and two large dark rings under his eyes showed that something was wrong. His clothing was immaculate but his hair was a mess and his shoulders seemed to sag with the weight of the world.

When he saw the two teenagers, he stared.

"Who are you?" He said defensively.

"My name is Artemis Fowl the second."

"And I'm his slave, Mandi Huttle."

Artemis rolled his eyes inwardly. Did she have no class?

The man looked at her with a strange look. "You really hate him, don't you."

"Is it that obvious?"

The man laughed tiredly. "You'll get used to it." Mandi gave him a puzzled look

"Uhuh..." Who was this guy?

The man looked at the lump on her belly. "Wait." He said, suddenly confused. "What..." he indicated her plump belly and looked back and forth between the two of them.

Mandi got the hint. "What! No! Disgusting!" She unzipped her many coats and showed him the child.

"Diana!" The man smiled.

"Is she yours?" Mandi asked him.

"Yes, she's my daughter. Thank you for bringing her." Mandi hesitated for a moment before walking towards his open arms.

"One moment please, Miss Huttle." Artemis stopped her before she could ease the child into the man's arms. "Sir, you have no proof that the child is indeed your blood and even so I would not allow -"

"Give it up kid." he said, easing the baby into his arms.

"But I-"

But before Artemis could say another words the man was gone in another burst of blinding light.


End file.
